Nico slept on the second floor of the cafe, which was actually Fu’s home. The second floor was a sort of subspace, not unlike the one that Nico had encountered in the tower.

Fu’s subspace made the entire second floor several times larger than it actually was. Apparently, Fu could make certain people see the subspace and others not. If someone who wasn't of a magical nature decided to walk upstairs, they would only see a normal second floor attic with storage space for different items for the cafe.

The Holder had waved his hand and revealed the veil for the subspace. Nico tried to divine how large it actually was, but even with his ability, could not get an exact estimate. From what he could tell, it was roughly the size of a four story mansion.

Fu let him sleep in one of the guest rooms. Nico insisted that he couldn't sleep and that the Coalition was after him. But the man assured him he was safe inside his Hold.

Nico hadn’t felt any kind of magical pressure from Fu to force him to sleep. It was just plain old exhaustion that took him.

When he woke up, Measure told him he had slept for four hours, twelve minutes, and twenty eight seconds. He didn't realize that he needed real honest rest and not just magical rejuvenation until he woke up in the softest bed he’d ever slept in.

The guest room was simple, quiet, and allowed a little sun in from the outside through a tiny window. Nico looked through the window but saw only a beach. The sounds of the distant waves even reached the room.

He extended his power towards the window and he got a screen telling him that there wasn't an actual beach outside of the window. It was just an illusion.

Nico had allowed himself to hope for a few seconds that Fu had actually teleported him to Hawaii, but it didn't look like that was the case. He heard voices speaking downstairs. They were familiar.

Carmen and Ful were talking, and from their hushed tones, it sounded like they wanted to keep quiet and not wake up Nico. He wiped the crust from the edge of his eyes and walked downstairs.

Nico stopped. What was that smell?

He sniffed his armpit and jerked back from the terrible odor. “I need a shower.”

As if he could hear everything inside the house, which he probably could, Fu’s voice bellowed out from the first floor, which was the cafe. “Hey, stinky boy! The shower is down the hall on your left. Your clothes will be cleaned automatically when you step out.”

Nico paused at the sudden voice. “Uh. Okay. Thanks, man.”

Ten minutes later, he was out of the shower. True to Fu’s word, Nico’s clothes were cleaned and pressed for him, sitting on the table next to the sink. They smelled fresh and vaguely of the ocean. He wondered what kind of magic had cleaning magic like this. Maybe if he survived this whole ordeal, he could ask Fu for the spell and convert it into an array.

He dried himself off and put his clothes on before heading downstairs.

Carmen gave him a friendly smile, but he could tell that she was nervous. Her feet jittered up and down like a nervous rabbit.

Fu was behind the counter, fixing up some coffee. He turned around and set a good hot cup of joe next to the cash register. He gave Nico a wink and said, “This one is on me.”

Next to Carmen was a plate of eggs, bacon, hash browns, and sausages. Nico’s belly groaned so loud, he could barely believe it was his own. Luckily, no customers were there.

Fu laughed. It was a good, hearty belly laugh.

Nico grabbed the hot cup of coffee from the counter and sat in the chair next to Carmen. He started chowing down the food Fu prepared for him.

“I could eat breakfast food all day.” He almost moaned with pleasure at having real food in his stomach..

“I know,” Fu said. Carmened watched Nico eat in silence. Normally he would have felt awkward, but it had been so long since he'd eaten. He tried to eat as politely as he could, but he felt like a ravenous caveman.

When Nico finished eating, he let out a polite burp and an apologetic look to Fu. “That was awesome.”

“No worries,” Fu waved at him with a smile on. “This one's on the house.”

Nico looks around the empty cafe. “The party lot is empty too. Does this have something to do with your Hold or is business just slow right now?”

“Hearth home magic,” Fu replied. “Anybody within a one mile radius, no matter how powerful they are, will feel an urge to leave the place and want to go somewhere else. Maybe somebody will come nearby and suddenly realize they forgot their groceries and then said go grocery shopping.”

“But not us,” Carmen noted.

“Not you,” Fu agreed. “I set the spell ever since I heard about the incident at your apartment. Since I can’t leave, I’ve only been able to rely on my contacts to get information on your whereabouts. And then I heard through the grapevine you had become untraceable, as if you left the planet.”

“Yeah, about that.” Nico added. He always wondered how the hearth home magic worked. It acted as a domain effect, but Nico could not see any visible spell formation. Did Holds have a separate form of magic altogether?

Nico was tempted to leave, now that he was rested and had a full stomach. He could leave Carmen here with Fu. She would be safe, and he wouldn’t have to involve–

Fu did not move from behind the counter. But the air around him seem to thicken, and his smiled widened, but not in a friendly way. There was a threat in this voice, but not the kind of enemy would make. It was more like a dad who was about to give a lecture. “Sit. Down. We are here to help. Isn’t that right, Carmen?”

She cracked her knuckles. “Yep. I told you he’d try to leave.”

Nico sat back down. He looked to Fu. “Did you read my mind?”

Fu rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to read your mind to see that you have intentions of acting like a damn fool. But it’s something adjacent. I can feel your intent and emotions.”

Nico’s mind immediately thought of several applications to that ability. Was it Fu’s unique ability or something the Hold offered? What were Holds, really? He said, “That’s gotta be super useful for fighting magicians, then. Since intent and emotions are linked to their spells, you would have an easy advantage in the fight.”

Fu sighed. “It’s more useful for reading the mood of my customers and getting a feel of how things are outside.”

He moved from behind the counter and sat in one of the empty chairs at their table. “Since you’re spry enough to geek out about magical theory, I figure you’re well enough to fill me in on your side of the story.”

Without hesitation, Nico did. Compared to when he told the story to Carmen, this time was much clearer and more organized since he was telling it the second time around. On top of that, he enlisted Measure to help him with his oratory skills.

“Carmen filled me in on your side things,” Fu explained when Nico finished his story. “And that's exactly what I suspected.

Nico felt his eyebrows shoot up. “But what did you suspect exactly?”

“That you were set up and someone within the Union was involved.”

“Pullman, obviously,” Nico said. “Why didn’t you tell me your suspicions last time I saw you?”

Fool frowned. “I didn't suspect anything until I heard about the Sentinels showing up at your apartment. Had I known earlier, I would have warned you.”

Nico believed him. “I'm pretty sure I can clear my name by apprehending Pullman.”

Carmen looked confused. “Apprehend how? From what you told me, that guy is a whole class of magic above you. The only reason you’re alive is pure luck.”

Nico rifled his fingers through his hair. “I had some ideas before that I didn’t use because my emotions got the better of me. I put everything into one spell and tried to overpower him.”

“Bad idea,” Fu nodded sagely. “The more fights you have against magicians, the more those fights become a battle of the mind rather than pure power. Whoever has more preparation, knowledge, and resources…”

He trailed off, and Fu tapped his fingers on the table. He seemed to be lost in thought.

“What’s up?” Nico asked.

Fu made a disgusted face. “Something about this doesn't quite add up. To build a ritual formation that large would take resources more than a single mage could handle.”

“I would normally agree,” Nico interjected. “But it looks like he spent years refining and perfecting the ritual. Plus, he probably had those he duped into sacrificing to help him with the set up.”

“The time prepared makes sense,” Fu stipulated. “But money would also be involved.”

“I don't think a lot of money went into making that ritual.”

Fu frowned. “It shows how much you know about the world. The money wasn’t for the ritual, it was to divert from it.”

Carmen’s eyes widened. “Like he had to pay people off to ignore it?”

“Right,” Fu confirmed. “Even a higher ranking magician of the Union wouldn’t have been able to get away with creating a ritual so large.”

Nico absorbed that but he already hadn't counter-argument. “Yeah, but the problem is, I think he has a special ability that allows him to either steal someone else's magic or piggyback it.”

Fu waved him off. “Trust me, my thin graphic designer. Magic on that scale will easily be detected by one of the Union’s chapters, as long as they are looking.”

“Then someone higher up in the Union supported Pullman,” Nico concluded.

“The Union has many resources, but money is not one of them,” Fu said. “There’s only one Hold in the city whose morals and resources align with what we discussed.”

Ah. And the pieces finally clicked into place.

Fu gave Nico a curious look. “You aren’t surprised?”

Nico nodded, folding his arms across his chest. “It's pretty much what is expected. Before you said anything, I was sixty seven percent sure it was who I thought it was, but having your word skyrocketed it to ninety eight percent.”

“I’m lost,” Carmen admitted.

Nico broke it down for her. “Think about all the parties that showed up in the tower. The treasure hunters, who were part of the Union. Pullman, who, if Fu is correct, counts as his own faction separate from the Union’s interests because he was there for himself.”

“And whoever Yuri represented,” Fu said seriously.

“The treasure hunters had no idea who Pullman was or why he was there,” Nico added. “I don’t know what it takes to get to the NextOver, but it seemed like there was a lot of time and money and planning involved just to get those three to that tower.”

Fu nodded. “I can’t disclose much because of my pact with the Coalition, but it sounded like the tower was an unstaked territory in the NextOver. To locate one takes considerable skill, knowledge, and preparation.”

Nico waited patiently for Fu to elaborate, but it seemed like the man wasn’t going to. He checked his own thoughts using Measure to balance his theories and hone down the percentages to make sure he was correct.

Finally, he said, “I feel like I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm fairly certain that Balthazar Patel was the one who backed Pullman.”

Carmen froze like a deer in the headlights.

Phu did not look surprised, but his expression grew dark. The rapped the table with his fist, clearly. “Do you know what he wants with you?”

“I thought I did, but every time I try to fit his piece into the piece, I get more confused,” Nico admitted.

Carmen pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed it. “Wait, wait, wait. Hold on. You think Balthazar was involved beyond helping you stabilize your powers?”

“Yeah, I don't know what his motives were. But he’s the only one left that makes sense, if you think about it. Yuri said he was specifically sent there to protect me. That meant he went with Pullman, knowing that I would eventually show up, which I have no idea how that’s possible. He also kept mentioning his teacher would ‘thunder him’ with his bracelet. The sikh bodyguard of Sameera, Balthazar’s daughter, had a kara, which he used for lightning magic.”

Fu’s frown deepened. “Yuri was sent there to protect you, but Pullman’s ritual also set you up for the downfall. I’ll bet Balthazar was the one who called the Sentinels. You said his driver was ‘loaned out’ to you until midnight?”

“Too many coincidences,” Nico agreed. “But why help me and frame me for Pullman’s murders?”

Fu made a face as if relieving an old pain. “It’s how that asshole works. He doesn’t just play two sides. Balthazar Patel uses every angle he can in a way that it never links back to him. Even if Yuri lived and was interrogated by the Sentinels, he wouldn’t have been able to admit anything because of his geas.”

“But why?” Nico asked, frustrated.

Fu raised an eyebrow at him. “Seriously? The magician who happens to be the biggest Gallahad fanboy can’t tell me why a supernatural crimelord who owns multiple Holds across the world would want possession of the grimoire of the most influential magician of the past millenia?”

Nico blinked. “I agree with you on that, but everyone dismisses Gallahad’s teachings.”

“True enough, but that’s because magicians with teachers are given a predetermined path of knowledge with their school of magic. Gallahad is great for elementary principles, but after that, it’s much easier for magicians to follow their teacher’s path,” Fu explained.

“As far as I know, the only mages I’ve encountered who practice Gallahad’s arrays beyond elementary principles are myself and that dead skeleton I encountered in the test,” Nico complained.

Fu laughed. “There are billions of people on the planet, Nico. Have you met them all?”

“No,” Nico answered sheepishly.

“Then do be so quick to assume,” Fu admonished.

“I get why Pullman would want it, but why Balthazar?”

Fu sighed. “I don’t know. But whatever it is, it is not good. He’ll say it is, and it will be the most compelling argument you’ve heard, but it won’t be good.”

Carmen’s mouth twisted. “I know I’m going to sound like the slow one here, but isn’t the book by Gallahad Pullman’s by right? Like right of blood?”

Fu’s expression softened. “Some lineages of magicians pass down their magic to their descendants, letting their grimoires be unlocked by blood. But it doesn’t sound like this was the case. Gallahad created those tests for someone who truly understood his ideas to inherit them.”

“I was the one who passed those tests,” Nico defended. “Not him. Pullman may use offshoots of Gallahad’s arrays, but I would be my bottom dollar their efficiency is subpar, at best.”

Carmen shrugged. “You say that, but he kicked your ass.”

Nico nodded. “That was my fault. I got emotional.”

Fu gave him an appraising glance. “You were right to feel angry for what he did to Yuri. But you are also right in recognizing your mistake.”

“So…” Carmen began. “Couldn’t you just steal the grimoire from Pullman instead of trying to fight him. Then you could give the grimoire to Balthazar and ask him to back off.”

“But it wasn’t a grimoire,” Nico said. “It was just a book, and a confusing one at that. It had no link to any of his previous theories. It was a journal.”

“All of this for a really old journal,” Carmen concluded.

Nico leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling of the cafe. He was exhausted by the implications of all this. With Balthazar confirmed as the man manipulating all these events for some vague purpose, Nico was overwhelmed by the idea of it all.

He turned to Fu. “You seem have experience with him.”

Fu stewed in silence for a few seconds as if to collect his thoughts. “He's a patient man. He tends to play the long game from things but he isn't stuck in his ways.”

“Which means he’s flexible.”

Fu nodded. “Very. He can see curveballs from a mile away. On top of that, he’s a Holder, and not just of one magical Hold, but many across the globe.”

“Did you guys used to trade blows or something?” Nico asked cautiously.

Fu stared at the table as if lost in an old memory. “It was before your time.”

Nico left it at that.

Carmen waved her hands in the air as if clearing fog. “Wait. Isn’t the whole point of this is to clear Nico's name? The only way to do that is by bringing Pullman. It doesn’t really matter what Balthazar wants.”

Fu looked upset. “Even if Nico manages to bring in Pullman, you can’t ignore Balthazar’s role in this.”

“I know,” Nico agreed. “I believe you. But that doesn't help me clear my name to get off the red list.”

“Before you try to take him down with whatever ideas you have in your head, we need to find him,” Carmen said.

Nico asked, “Fu, could you ask around? Do you have an information network or something?”

Foo gave him an incredulous look. “If I ask my contacts right now for the whereabouts of Pullman, there’s a chance it will trickle to Balthazar or the Coalition. You don’t want to raise unnecessary alarm bells. The Sentinels already came by here after your escape and triple checked everything to make sure you weren’t here. I had to cast a lot of powerful and subtle magic to make sure they didn't come snooping around after.”

Nico clicked his tongue. “I figured it was worth the ask.”

“What do we do now?” Carmen asked.

We. The simple word lifted Nico’s spirit. He wasn’t alone anymore.

He let Measure assess several options, and he whittled them down to one. “I need to figure out what the contents of the book really mean. I don't think I've actually passed the tests at the tower yet.”

“What makes you say that/”

“With the previous tests, I got a notification letting me know I passed. After exiting that subspace, I didn’t get one.The book is pretty cool. If but its contents are confusing and backwards.”

“So…” Carmen fished.

“My approach to fighting magicians has been all wrong. I can’t win with power. I might not even be able to win with skill,” Nico answered. “I need to gamify my abilities.”